Edwin G. 
Do you know how to say “Toronto”?
Secret 5th choice, please comment
Symbols:
- 🇨🇦 Canadian
- 🌏 Non-Canadian
Tor-on-toe 🇨🇦
Tor-on-no 🇨🇦
Tor-on-toe 🌏
Tor-on-no 🌏
Poll ended at .
Following my Toronto poll, I’m asking today:
How would you say “Montréal”? Secret 5th choice, feel free to comment
Symbols:
🇨🇦 Canadian
🌍 Non-Canadian
Mon-ree-al 🇨🇦
Mon-tree-all 🇨🇦
Mon-ree-al 🌍
Mon-tree-all 🌍
Poll ended at .
My secret choice: Eternal cone city / Ville éternelle des cônes
Let’s do another one.
This is someone’s suggestion (sorry I can’t find the post… and I will not be able to edit 😔, so thank you who ever you are!)
How would you pronounce “Calgary”?
Symbols:
🇨🇦 Canadian
🌎 Non-Canadian
P.S.: I have two other similar polls in mind 😄
| Call-gree 🇨🇦 | |
| Cal-gah-ree 🇨🇦 | |
| Call-gree 🌎 | |
| Cal-gah-ree 🌎 |
Poll ends at .
Bruce Elrick@EdwinG None of the above? I've lived here for 30 years and pronounce it "Cal-gree" where "Cal" is pronounced like "AL" in "you can call me Al".
I've never heard people pronounce the first syllable "call" like "all".
@EdwinG Also, Alberta starts with the same "al" sound.
@virtuous_sloth Tried to think how one would write it. Failed miserably 😭
@EdwinG
That's why linguists came up with the International phonetic alphabet and tried to avoid Latin letters. Us saying “all“ is ambiguous because different people pronounce it differently.
IPA maps vowels and consonants to vocal chord, throat, cheek, tongue, and lip position and movements.
There is a slightly different way of pronouncing the first syllable, but I'm struggling to think of it!
@virtuous_sloth Yeah, but not a lot of people know how to read and write IPA (I can’t)
@EdwinG Yeah, me neither.
When I do look at them I think it would be neat to learn, but then my brain starts hurting.
I did find these handy audio pronunciation doolies on Wikipedia, though:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_vowel_chart_with_audio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPA_consonant_chart_with_audio
caitp
Renata 🇨🇦🐈@EdwinG I think there’s a very *Tronno* bias from some of us that we just tend to not pronounce a lot of letters
Shrbrn not Sherbourne
Etobicoh not Etobicoke
Scarbro not Scarborough
So, Calgree
That Old Guy with the Beard@EdwinG Here’s one I heard a lot years ago, but am not sure how widespread it is now.
Edmonton ✔︎
Emunton ✗
@IanAMartin I’ve never heard “Emunton” for Edmonton 🤯
@EdwinG Maybe I just hung around with people who mumbled a lot? 😂
LillyLyle/Count Melancholia@EdwinG Cal-gurr-ee.
Olivier 
Carolyn
Ryan2one3It was this one:
https://mstdn.moimeme.ca/@EdwinG/116182788326747377
Obviously, I am limited to 4 choices. I see “Trono” as a faster “Torono”
Edwin G. :mapleleafroundel: (@[email protected])
Do you know how to say “Toronto”? Secret 5th choice, please comment Symbols: - 🇨🇦 Canadian - 🌏 Non-Canadian #Toronto #Polltodon [ ] Tor-on-toe 🇨🇦 [ ] Tor-on-no 🇨🇦 [ ] Tor-on-toe 🌏 [ ] Tor-on-no 🌏
Rupert V/
Django@EdwinG I’m not sure I’ve ever even heard English speakers refer to it in French.
Since the question is in English I would say: Mun-tree-all
Since the question is in English I would say: Mun-tree-all
brian m. carlson@EdwinG It depends what language I'm speaking. I pronounce the t in English and Spanish, but not in French.
And I'm a Canadian permanent resident, so I don't know if that makes me Canadian or non-Canadian in this poll. I do live in "Toronno", for what it's worth, and have for over four years.
Paul Turnbull has moved.🇨🇦@EdwinG Secret fifth choice: Where I feel most at home in Canada outside of Edmonton.
Nathan A. Stine@EdwinG 4th option, but I also speak a bit of French so I know it's really "Mon-ray-al"
@stinerman My attempt at the French pronunciation is options 1 and 3.
It’s hard to describe it, because it’s somewhere between “ray” and “ree” in English.
@EdwinG I know what you mean. Using English words to approximate French sounds is inexact.
Log 🪵
James (Jim) Little@EdwinG Mun-tree-all, the most common pronunciation according to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary. They also have the "Mon" pronunciation, which to me sounds too ROC trying to be correct.
Young Thos@EdwinG as an English-Canadian, 100% Mun-tree-all, but in my experience most Americans and in recent years even some English-Canadians will say Mon-tree-all
@NeueWelle I have never heard “Mun-tree-all” around Montréal in my 25+ years here 😅
@EdwinG Terre de contrastes… I've only been here for 20 years, but all the anglos I know (including myself) say Mun-tree-all, and all the Americans I know say Mon-tree-all.
Also, for my entire life, Mun-tree-all has been the mainstream English Canadian pronunciation heard on the CBC and elsewhere in the media.
Of course, your mileage may vary… 😉
@NeueWelle It’s also possible that my ears translate “Mon” and “Mun” the same way, just with a shorter “o”.
On CBC Radio One Montréal, I hear the short “o” when they name the city.
monstreline@EdwinG mor-eh-al
gardengeekI find this fascinating! I love language and dialects.
and now I feel a weird urge to make a poll about Louisville (Kentucky). ✨ 🛶
@gardengeek I would probably pronounce it in Canadian French:
Loo-ee-vil (approximation)
Loo-ee-vil (approximation)
that's okay! 
Hey, at least you know the "s" is silent. Also, we love tourists! any pronunciation is welcomed.
(hint: it has two syllables.)
it's "looua-vul." swallow the "vul."
it's almost one syllable because you swallow the vul.
But I stand by it being two syllables. Then 'looua' is one syllable, there's no break.
probably for most, "Loo'-vul" is the best way to type it into letters. When you visit, you'll hear the the tiny uptick at the end of Loo, into an "a", Loo a- vol.
One needs to visit to hear it. It's not. another syllable, it's just a slight uplift into an "a" sound.
Ppl please visit.
you're like, okay but Why would I visit Louisville Kentucky? and drag my family there for a vacation? Unless I wanted them to meet my family member dying there and that's the closest airport?
I get that, 100%. It's just nice, and challenges assumptions. Also, while I understand you may not be curious about how fish caught from the Ohio River taste, they're actually quite delicious. That's Louisville. We even make fish from the Ohio River taste delicious. Visitors welcome.
sorry. anyway, I didn't realize that's how Montreal and Toronto are, that different dialects pronounce them differently and leave out consonants.
I loved that poll, because the author didn't make it seem like there's a "right" or "wrong" way. They weren't snobby about it.
refreshing a lovely, actually.
@gardengeek You’re welcome! (I’m the author 😄)
Montrealers and Torontonians have different accents, but we mostly do share the same dialect and regional variation of English, same goes for French.
oh no. I'm sorry. lol, I didn't realize you were the author.
also, when you have time, please visit Louisville and enjoy our fresh fish from the Ohio River. The restaurants along the river are lovely, and make it taste good.
you're like: Is this the same Ohio River as the river that "caught on fire" because of it's petroleum contamination in the early 70's and that river-fire prompted the US to enact he Clean Water Act in 1972-ish?
Yes, same river.
Now it has fish swimming in the river, and one can catch and kill and consume.
please visit.
no but seriously, all the river stuff aside. it's a great city. You want radical, We'll show you radical!
@EdwinG
fish live in the Ohio river, and people catch them and provide"fresh fish!" to local restaurants.
I mean, I would never eat fish caught in the Ohio River. but people do! eat them.
I don't eat fish. I'm vegan.
I suspect most people in Louisville are vegan. when their family takes them out to eat at the fancy restaurant beside the river. I'm vegan. I love hash browns!! 
no but seriously, do you know anyone who eats fish from the Ohio River? voluntarily?
sorry. This started about how outsiders can't say Louisville.
It's fine, man! I just think being vegan is a very healthy option, if living in the US Interior.
Re: eating a fish from a river.
like literally, I would definitely NOT consume a fish caught in a US river, like a fresh-water fish.
what are you up to? besides not eating fish caught in the Ohio river or any freshwater water way, aka river, in the continental US?
I’m doing house chores. I actually had sushi made with Canadian Atlantic salmon.
Currently, it’s not in my foreseeable future to travel to the USA. I’ll add Louisville to my places to visit if I’m in that region of the world.